Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

I wonder ... whether there are any statues of Erwin Rommel anywhere in North Africa. The usual statements made by enthusiasts of Confederate statutes would seem to apply. "The statues don't celebrate a cause, they celebrate valor." Rommel had valor. "Lee [or Stonewall, or whomever] was a great strategist [or tactician, or whatever]." Rommel was excellent in the craft of war, as Churchill himself acknowledged. "Lee was actually against secession and/or slavery." Maybe, but on the other hand we know for sure that Rommel joined in near the end of the war in a rebellion against Hitler. That should earn him some posthumous brownie points.

There is a kerfuffle underway about a statue called "fearless girl" recently installed in the financial district of Manhattan. It isn't the biggest of controversies, but it does have some symbolic significance, and there is a pragmatic lesson here about how markets work. http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2017/04/wheres-the-bear-.html#comments   Since 1989, the financial district has featured the "Charging Bull," a statue by Arturo Di Modica. He originally located it directly in front of the New York Stock Exchange, but it was subsequently moved to a small park in the neighborhood. In March of this year, a four foot tall bronze statue of a grade school aged girl (pigtails and billowing dress) standing in the path of the bull in the usual stance of defiance (legs spread, hands on hips, face forward toward the danger) made its appearance. Fearless Girl is sufficiently close to Charging Bull that they appear to be a single work , which has Di Modica ...